Once Upon a Friday Night...

Most of you who live in UT have shown on your blogs picturesque views of your homes as the pure white snow coated your lawns over the weekend. Well, we didn't even get a very good snow, where the branches hang so low from the weight and it looks like a winter wonderland in the middle of October. No, here by the East bench even, it was just a wet, cold snow that didn't cover everything. So Doug and I started to stress slightly. What are we going to do now that we can't go for as long walks as we did or go to the park? We live in an apartment, for heaven's sake so it gets really cramped anyways. And we can't afford to go to Applebee's every night, we're not billionaires (I watch too much TV, Kath & Kim).

Well, Thursday night, a stroke of genius visited me as Doug was mentally cursing Weston for hitting a secret combination on our remote and we couldn't get the closed caption off. Most of you who know Doug probably look at the following pictures and think, yes, that sounds like something Doug would do. Maybe he's just rubbing off on me, but I needed to keep Weston happy while Doug attempted to fix the CC problem (which the next day I had to call panasonic, then the cable company for assistance and it really was a secret combination to fix). So I made a small fort out of pillows. The next night, as the cold front crept in, I asked Doug if he would like to join Weston and me in building an even BIGGER fort! He said yes and this came about:
This is the masterpiece we created out of the love seat cushion, pillows and blankets. Our couch and love seat came with about thirty-seven pillows so it worked out perfectly.
I'm sorry for ALL the pictures - this was just so funny. Weston was in fits of laughter all night. Because we push him out and say, "Get out of my fort! No Weston's allowed!" & such clever stuff.










































We took turns being on the inside. Another appropriate title for this post could be attack of the killer Weston. Once he saw I had the camera, he turned on me.




















This particular picture is of his "charge" face. He was on a rampage, in a good way, and was breathing really heavily through his teeth.


I love this picture, but I couldn't get it to rotate and I have far more important things to do with my time.



In summary, I guess we'll just have to be more creative this winter!

I never thought any joy could compare to being a mom, until I became an aunt.

Dear Afton & Claire,

I can't wait to meet you both! I love you so much already. I can't wait to see the wrinkly lines of skin around your bony knees and see you stretch out your itsy-bitsy baby toes. I want to smell your head and kiss your tiny noses. I want to feel your little fingers wrap around just one of mine. I want to hold you until my arm falls off. I am so excited you are here and for Weston to come tease you all the time like an older boy cousin is supposed to do. May you love your sister as much as I love all of mine.
Love, Aunt Stef

P.S. I will always have gum. (Just like Monica on Friends)

Mama and Babies are doing great. I can't wait to not only see thousands more pictures , but to also take some with them at the end of the month. Doug is trying his darndest to hold me off, but these two make me long for a little girl. Lisa does have two, so maybe I'll just tuck one in on my way home. I only hope if I do have a little girl someday in the far far future, she is half as pretty as these lovelies! We love you Lisa and Adam and we are so so happy for you extending your family and now you will know what true love is. I have thought I always knew who I was in this life, until I became a mother and realized one of the biggest reason I wanted to come here was so I could be a mother. It brought tears to my eyes as Lisa told me about the whole experience because Doug and I talked about it as she was in labor - about how excited we were and are for Lisa and Adam to experience this. Words fail to define.










"You were made perfectly
to be loved - and surely
I have loved you, in the idea of you,
my whole life long." - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

If I want to

Because I have nothing really to blog about lately and I want to do a post, here I go. Not much has been going on lately. A few sleepless nights as of late. Weston has this fascination with his ears so I thought he had an ear infection. Fifteen bucks for a pediatrician to tell me he didn't have one. On the bright side, the doctor did want me to email him ?? His 6 year old has a lump in his neck and mri's and ultrasounds are struggling to reveal what it is. His wife is creating a medical home group where we can report different symptoms for kids with various diseases. So for example, all the liver patients can be in contact with each other and say, "my son won't eat and seems uncomfortable." And I can say, "Oh, he has EBV, my son did the same thing and now we are on an antiviral med." I just love modern medicine. I don't love staying at the hospital, but I am so grateful for the advances that have come about. Especially with my new twin cousins Lauren and Dianna that came over two months early and are doing so wonderfully. Did you know the first liver transplant wasn't until the 80's? If most of us had been born with Biliary Atresia, there wouldn't have been anything they could do! I still have a hard time grasping the concept that my mom had SIX healthy kids!

Weston goes in for a scope next week. And they will probably keep a close eye on anything that may be causing these earaches and headaches that he has. They may have to inject chemicals for his veins depending on how they look. This is what they said about his MRI:
"I don't know how the blood is flowing everywhere. He had two veins that clotted and now one has unclotted, but still has the issue of the one. Somehow, the veins are doing a good job of transporting blood everywhere it needs to go." I know how, doctors and it has nothing to do with you even though you are fabulous at what you do :)

They will also tell me if he needs his tonsils out boo! I'm praying that the EBV will go away, but Dr. Book seems to think it has created a home in his tonsils and they may have to be yanked.

Enough about me though, I want to give a shout out to some friends I have who are going through their trials and tragedies. So many things Doug and I discovered this weekend our friends are struggling with. We are praying for you, we love you, we can't stop thinking about you and wish we could do more. I am so grateful for a Heavenly Father who knows our potential and knows what we need to endure in order to accelerate our reaching that potential. I was so impressed with Pres. Eyring's talk in General Conference this past weekend - he said, "Faith is a decision." I said that back in October after I first found out about West's condition. Sometimes, when Faith does not come so easily, we can decide to trust that path and be more than we are.

Slacker:
I have been a picture slacker. I need to take videos of Weston crawling like a speed demon before he gives it up to walking (he's up to 12 steps in a row woohoo!) So here are a few from the archive.

Modge-Podgerific

I'm really, by no means, a crafty person, but I don't have a job and I have a semi-healthy baby who is so much easier to to take care of now, that I have enjoyed enhancing these non-abilities. I made these letters for Weston's room - sorry it's not a very good picture, I cropped it from another picture.







And these were my gift to Lisa for my favorite twin nieces coming soon - I really hope they don't trick us and come out a boy or change their minds on the names :) I have to say Lisa's letters turned out actually better than mine because I had much more modge-podge experience under my belt.









And this for my favorite mini-pincher coco Aaron's and Kristen's dog to put above her food bowl - and no matter what I did I could not get this pic to rotate blah so I decided I just didn't care enough to pursue it.












And this is my new fall wreath. I'll be so sad next year when I have no wreaths to make only rehang my old ones :( I also made halloween magnets and halloween cards that my siblings will not get until we all meet in indi at the end of the month - I'm not proud enough of how they turned out to take a picture :)

The Secret Life of Bees

So if you haven't read this book, you need to. It's so good! I read it a while ago and realized what a nerd I was as I'm sitting with my girlfriend's on girls' night out at The Women (which I thought was hilarious, but apparently my parents don't share in my sentiments) and a preview came out for this movie, and I was the only one who had even heard of it:












Boo - go read it. I am ecstatic! Lisa's the one who recommended Sue Monk Kidd to me. I can't wait! It has Alicia Keys, Jennifer Hudson, Queen Latifah, Dakota Fanning, and the kid from the new 90210 - ok maybe I'm the only one excited about that last one. How great! I have also just finished reading Pride & Prejudice again so I can watch the movie and know what details they are missing. And so I could read the spin off by one of my fave authors and Stephenie Meyers's friend Shannon Hale called Austenland - it's funny so far and it's a short read. I can't wait for this movie woohoo!

The Zoo & Weston: the Olympic hopeful

We had so much fun at the zoo a few weeks ago. Weston's favorite are the monkeys! go figure :)









Here is what we saw at Hogle Zoo:
A kangaroo & her joey:









A swan & her cygnet:










A mama & her Weston:




It's amazing how much you can learn from your children's books. Weston loves to read and Doug said, "Look, Weston! A kangaroo & his joey!" (there were two kangaroos - one just hopped away before I could get the picture) & I said, "Look, Weston! A swan and her cygnet!" (that's what a baby swan is called) We thought it was hilarious because one of Weston's books has all the animals and their baby names. We're so smart.

We've gone to the park a lot this summer. Here a couple of Weston on the swings. That little girl would not leave us alone so we finally left. I'm in charge of a play group in my ward now so if any of you have ideas for cold Utah this winter, let me know!














And here we have Weston practicing for his future gymnastic career on the still rings. Just kidding, however, we have discovered that Weston is the next Michael Phelps as long as he can become 6 ft 4 at least. It's a long shot you may think. But not as long as it appears. Weston was not blessed with his dad's long legs, but with his mother's long torso and short legs. Since the Olympics, we have found out that swimming is the sport this body type comes in handy. I would have never guessed seeing as how I've always been a poor swimmer. That's not all folks! Also, like Michael Phelps, Weston is double jointed in his knees! We have high hopes for Weston to make us our millions.

Weston y su amigo Jaxon

We had the fun opportunity to see plenty of Weston's friend Jaxon and my friend Amber this past week. Amber came and visited and then one day while Doug was gone in Chicago, we trucked out to Tooele to spend the day with them. It was so much fun and we wish they lived closer. Weston really enjoyed sharing his toys with Jaxon. In fact, he kept giving him new toys to play with. It was quite amusing. Here, he is showing him how to play with his Tigger and Pooh train.










Jaxon was born about a month and a half before Weston, but is two pounds lighter than Weston. It took Weston a while to catch up, but he surpassed him. However, Jaxon wasn't used to having someone so similar to his size so he took advantage of the opportunity and tried to tackle Weston. When Amber tried to get him to stop, he acted like, "No, I'm giving Weston loves." And turned it into hugs. It was so funny.


















But Weston got him back. The Adams have a dog that I knew Weston would love, so I asked Amber if she would let him in. The first picture is of Weston trying to see Duke. The second is Weston shoving Jaxon out of the way so he can get a better view. Don't worry, Jaxon is just upset because he couldn't get over the table, not because Weston made him cry.


















We have had a fun couple weekends minus Doug's absence during the week to Chi-town. Last weekend, I got to go to Hobby Lobby yay! And we went to Cabella's for the boys. Well, here are some pics of how excited Weston got with the aquarium and with the stuffed animals. We figured if he got this excited over dead animals, what would he do with live animals? So we went to the zoo today - post pending :)









BTW- you may have noticed my new link section on the side - I LOVE IT - now I don't waste nearly as much time checking blogs as I used to! I have enjoyed all your blogs and I try to frequently comment so hopefully you have enjoyed my visits as well haha!

Lately

A Bad Purchase

So one day, I was bored and had heard good things about this Steve & Barry's place, so I decided to go see if they had anything cheap for Doug, because he never lets me buy clothes for him. So they had nothing...but they did have baby clothes and we've been trying to find lightweight sleepers for Weston and I found one. It looked really long and skinny, but then so is Weston. It was only ten bucks anyway. He is probably the skinniest baby I've ever seen and it did not fit him. Fortunately, I did not wash it before trying it on, which is what I usually do. We were laughing so hard and I just had to take a picture. Needless to say, I returned it the next day. (Don't mind our makeshift changing pad underneath)

Handle Bars...

This is my handsome hubby trying to hide from the camera and this is him with a sexy handle bar mustache. Don't worry, he only had it for about 5 minutes. When we were first married, he used to go in the bathroom for like 10 minutes and I wouldn't know what he was doing. Then he would come out "trying" to act normal and he had his hair slicked back like a vampire or he parted it on the side really dorky-like. Then at a recent family barbecue, my Uncle Craig told a story about Grandpa Briggs coming out when he had to shave his mustache off for temple work and he only shaved half of it off to see if Grandma noticed. They sat down to breakfast and she didn't even notice! We thought it was so funny and then when Doug was shaving off his two day beard, he came out trying to act normal, but we couldn't even stop laughing long enough to take the picture.

Wait a minute...

I think it's 10:00 PM and I think YOU, Mister, are supposed to be asleep! The flash doesn't show that it was dark so it was way funnier to us than to you. I walked in and said, "What is going on in here?!"I was really mad, but not really, because I was laughing. One thing about Weston is he is SO loud everywhere we go and he gets sooo excited about EVERYTHING! And I try to whisper and teach him to use our "inside voice", but I don't want to inhibit his personality, because I have a feeling it is going to be huge. I love this kid, he's crazy.

A close up:

Happy Bday mr. luva luva!

Happy Birthday yesterday to my man Dug E. Fresh, the Freshness! He is such a good husband and father that he is "celebrating" his birthday week by working at the outdoor retailer's show which is not fun at all. He got to see Weston for about 5 minutes this morning and that's the most all week.

I just wanted to give a shout out to Doug and why I love him so much. The fact that he will work probably at least 45 hours in three days not to mention 2 days at his normal job, just so we can get ahead a little in the finances :) & again next week, yucky.

He is such a good dad! I love that he called me the other day and said, "Oh, I can't wait to come home and put Weston on my shoulders." To which I replied, "What? Where did that come from?" He said, "I was just looking at his picture and can't wait to hear him laugh when I get home." Now if that isn't the cutest!

Someone told me a few years ago, "My son needs to find a girl like you to marry. Someone who enjoys sports as much as you do." I went on to explain that her son just needed to be more like Doug. He explains sports so well and tells me about all the players and their lives to make it so interesting.

He has put off school so much just to support our family. And, fingers crossed, he'll finish this year!

He is so strong in the Church and helps me whenever I'm feeling down.

When I was pregnant, stupid Mooja ate my shuffle and I bawled! Doug gave me his shuffle, which we have yet to replace.

He gets along with everyone in my family! & they adore him! In fact, I think Doug's best quality is that he is such a people person, everyone he meets thinks he is just about the coolest, which is probably true!

The only thing I don't like is that he no longer laughs at my jokes. I think he just pretended he thought I was funny so I would marry him. Oh well, Weston thinks I'm funnier than him hehe. I love you Doug Happy Birthday!

Happy Babies!

Lisa blessed us with a visit to SLC for her friend's wedding and Mickell and I took advantage and through her a shower. We had quite a turnout, Lisa and her twinners are popular! Here are some pics...
This is a framed pic of the twins' ultrasound pictures and a letter from Adam that was REALLY cute and almost made ME cry :)
Also, I had 2 pictures of cute lil' lisa that said, "What's better than one Lisa? TWO!" with some green and pink jelly bellies that we were eating for days after.

Lisa's friends Caisa and Mickell got her matching pea coats and pink beanies. They were too cute. This is just one or should I say "two" of the cute matching outfits that she received.










Cute clothesline from all the siblings.






Party favors with Lisa's due date: strawberry mentos and, of course, double mint gum ;)



And last, but definitely not least THE FOOD with my mom's FINE recipes of mini dulce de leche cheesecakes and spinach artichoke dip, my fave, yum! I have yet to email my cousins who requested the recipes. I will, I promise.


And here is Lisa's big belly and here is Lisa with Weston. Thank you to everyone who came, we had a blast with the games and food and seeing old friends! & Thanks to Jamie for all the fab ideas. The memory game was a blast (see Lisa's blog).

Everybody's doing it...

This is the latest fun post idea going around and I've had a blast doing it on other people's blogs so we'll give it a try...
1. As a comment on my blog, leave a memory that you have of me. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember! It can be the first memory or just the first thing that comes to mind. If you haven't met me, then leave a memory you have of Doug.
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.